Introduction
to the
Digital Related Areas Database
The National Parks Service (NPS) manages 378 areas containing over 80 million acres. Approximately 240 of these areas are battlefields, historic sites, national memorials, or other primarily historical locations. At the boundaries of most of these federally-owned properties, the jurisdiction of state and local government begins. In many cases, actions taken by state and local government agencies can have enormously beneficial or detrimental effects on the integrity of these unique and irreplaceable national resources. Yet, outside of the authorized boundaries for each NPS unit, the federal government has very limited authority to influence crucial development, transportation, and land-use decisions made by state and local governments.
The traditional (paper-based) Related Areas Database (RAD) is an important tool that has been adopted by several parks in an effort to maximize park involvement in state and local development decisions. The RAD identifies, documents, and establishes priorities for areas outside of the park boundaries that are nevertheless important for maintaining the character and integrity of the park. In physical form, the existing RAD for the Chancellorsville battlefield consists of
- a large-format, spiral-bound report with summary maps and text
- two loose-leaf notebooks with over 400 pages of supporting detail, and
- a bound set of parcel maps with relevant parcels colored in green.
The RAD is used by local governments when reviewing development proposals, state government agencies when evaluating the effects of actions such as road construction on historic resources, and the Army Corps of Engineers when considering wetland permits.
Unfortunately, the traditional, paper-based RAD is expensive to produce and copy, difficult to update, and unwieldy to utilize. Because of the difficulty of moving between one set of parcel maps and another set of historic resource maps, even the best-intentioned planner can inadvertently miss a well-documented historic resource. The Digital Related Areas Database (D-RAD) addresses these difficulties by integrating geographic information systems, hypertext, and Internet technologies to produce a computerized database that will be less expensive to create, distribute, and maintain; more reliable in application; and even fun to use.
The advantages of the D-RAD are considerable. Because the information is available on an Internet-based Web site, local, state, and federal users, as well as interested local citizens and interest groups, can now have access to the full database utilizing only a Java-enabled Web browser. Updating the Web site will be easier, faster, and much less expensive than re-issuing paper-based notebooks and maps. Since the D-RAD is a hypertext document, internal links can direct the user to additional materials found on the World Wide Web. Finally, the D-RAD ensures that all parties in the review process have access to exactly the same documentation and source materials.
An html version of the D-RAD for the Chancellorsville battlefield is available at the following location on the World Wide Web:
http://civilwar.gatech.edu/rad/rad.htm
The GIS version of the D-RAD is available at
http://civilwar2.arch.gatech.edu/website/chan2
Also available is the Memorandum of Agreement between Spotsylvania County, the National Parks Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Virginia State Historic Preservation Office. Hyperlinks within the Memorandum direct the user to the underlying federal environmental and historic preservation legislation, as well as the specific regulations adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers. The Memorandum details the usage of the RAD in the development review process:
http://civilwar.gatech.edu/rad/moa.htm
More information on the use of GIS technology for battlefield preservation can be found at